Finished the first draft of Shadowbane and sent it off to my editor Friday. I think it turned out pretty well, with a lot to offer n00bs and long-time fans of the Realms alike, and also people who've read my stuff before and people who have no familiarity with it at all.

Also, I know the James Brothers are going to go nuts over one specific part.

Cheers

Do you have a pair of brothers murdering a Sage most heiniously?

Can you tell us how long after Downshadow this one starts?

A little nonsense now and then, relished by the wisest men - Willy Wonka

You are a sick scribe Ashe. I think Garen was referring to the play session for Monument of the Ancients.

I hope Candlekeep continues to be the friendly forum of fellow Realms-lovers that it has always been, as we all go through this together. If you don’t want to move to the “new” Realms, that doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with either you or the “old” Realms. Goodness knows Candlekeep, and the hearts of its scribes, are both big enough to accommodate both. If we want them to be.(Strikes dramatic pose, raises sword to gleam in the sunset, and hopes breeches won’t fall down.)Enough for now. The Realms lives! I have spoken! Ale and light wines half price, served by a smiling Storm Silverhand fetchingly clad in thigh-high boots and naught else! Ahem . .So saith Ed. <snip>love to all,THO

One Question though: almost all FR novels, standalone or otherwise where part of a line (all of you previous ones, for example)

Do you know if this one is part of another theme-based stand alone novel-line? Or did wizards changed there rules regarding F novels?

I don't think the thematic stand-alone series were part of a *rule,* so to speak, but more of a marketing schema to give stand-alone novels a little more *oomph* for pattern FR readers.

To explain, a stand-alone novel by itself has to stand on its own merits and has to be marketed seperately from others, so it's hard for a new author to make a splash with a pure stand-alone. Add it to a series with several other stand-alones, however, and the books market one another, as even if no one's ever heard of the author before, they might have read and enjoyed the others.

For instance, if you like Steven Schend's writing and enjoyed Blackstaff Tower, for instance, you might like Mistshore, Downshadow, etc., the rest of the Eddie Presents series, even if you've never read a book by Jaleigh, Rosemary, Erin, James, or myself.

From a publishing standpoint, WotC gets to train up a new author without tossing them into the cold alone--there's safety in numbers--and they don't have to market each book individually as much (saving time and money).

From a reader's standpoint, it seems like a great way to try out a new author without the commitment of a whole grand story such as a trilogy or other series.

But that's just my own personal take on the situation, and it doesn't really answer your original question . . . which I'm not actually going to answer, except to say (like a good rhetorician) that a certain assumption the question makes isn't exactly accurate.

That said, I'll leave it as a tease for now.

quote:The upcoming Unbroken Chain also seems to stand in its very own, so to speak.

Having had the good fortune of reading said novel, I'm glad to see Jaleigh striding forth to tell her own story, outside of a shared series. Who knows? Her own series might well follow, and that's a possibility I'm definitely looking forward to. I highly recommend this one.

quote:The upcoming Unbroken Chain also seems to stand in its very own, so to speak.

Having had the good fortune of reading said novel, I'm glad to see Jaleigh striding forth to tell her own story, outside of a shared series. Who knows? Her own series might well follow, and that's a possibility I'm definitely looking forward to. I highly recommend this one.

Cheers

I think that Jaliegh announcing that she does indeed get to do a flow up to The Unbroken Chain, featuring a few of those characters , is about the coolest thing since you announced Shadowbane!

A little nonsense now and then, relished by the wisest men - Willy Wonka

And that makes you prety damn lucky to have all this awesomeness directed at you

It's not luck, exactly. It's convection. Being absurdly tall, Erik cannot but be exposed to the rising waves of awesome that gather around his head, trapped from floating into the ionosphere by the ceiling.